LOS ANGELES — Amid the nation’s tightening affordable housing squeeze, Standard Communities is expanding its construction operations and moving into new markets while adding fresh leadership to push its ambitious pipeline forward.

The Los Angeles-based affordable housing developer has boosted its workforce by over 50% since 2023 and added 10,000 units to its portfolio, bringing its total to 27,000 units owned and operated nationwide. The company also has $1.5 billion in new affordable developments planned and $1 billion in existing deals progressing.

A major part of this growth is the hiring of Caitlin Gossens as vice president of capital markets for Standard’s New Construction division. A seasoned community development finance executive, Gossens comes from JPMorgan Chase Bank, where she originated more than $1.5 billion in construction and permanent financing for over 6,500 affordable units.

“Last year, the largest home builder in the nation built 300,000 units of single-family homes, and the biggest affordable housing developer built 3,000 units,” Gossens said. “That’s a huge divide, and Standard is trying to take the new construction platform to address that.”

Gossens now leads Standard’s capital-raising work, manages investor relationships, and oversees financing throughout each project’s life cycle. The goal, she says, is to accelerate production of affordable housing without waiting for scarce public subsidies.

“We all know that it’s really challenging to build affordable housing, and often you’re relying on scarce resources. We’re trying to bring really creative solutions to the affordable housing landscape,” Gossens said.

Standard’s new construction pipeline totals nearly 4,000 units, mainly targeting the Mid-Atlantic region — especially Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and California — with additional one-off projects in Huntsville, Providence, and Kansas City.

“Most of the areas that we are working in are suburban areas with high income, and where we can finance projects using just debt and equity,” Gossens said.

The company recently closed projects in Woodbridge, Virginia (240 units) and Hawaii (127 units). More deals totaling 600 to 1,000 units are expected to close in the next year.

Despite construction pricing volatility and interest rate swings, Gossens says Standard remains committed to adapting. “Every single year in the affordable housing financing world, we keep saying, ‘Oh, this is unprecedented,’” she said.

The expansion comes as federal tax reforms give the sector a boost. The recently passed 2025 tax reform bill includes the largest increase to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program since its inception in 1986. Analysts project this could help finance over 1.2 million affordable homes in the next decade.

Gossens notes the challenge will be balancing the new supply with investor demand: “The greatest challenge will be ensuring the market can efficiently respond to this historic expansion and translate it into new, high-quality affordable housing at the scale intended.”

Looking ahead, Standard plans to keep growing its staff and project pipeline to meet demand in high-opportunity areas — using creative partnerships, flexible capital strategies and a streamlined construction approach to close the nation’s affordable housing gap one community at a time.

Originally reported by Mary Salmonson in Multifamily Dive.